With all of the talking out of the way, we started walking on the dirt path once again, trying to find the others. My heart has calmed down a bit, but my arms still pricked with sharp needles, an uneasy feeling was settling in my stomach, making me feel nauseous. Though, instead of dwelling on my thoughts (which I knew wouldn't help me), I decided to follow Jax and the dirt path, trying my best to block any unwanted thoughts that were trying to seep into my head.

"How the hell did the others get so far away?" I heard my voice complain.

Jax shrugged. "Who knows. Why did you stay behind anyway? You had no reason to."

Shit. How was I going to tell him the true reason? Like, 'oh, I was just concerned for your well-being, even though we're either enemies or frenemies, I can't really tell.' That just sounds stupid and dumb, and he will probably laugh at me. Besides, I don't even know why I cared in the first place when he's been nothing but sarcastic, not genuine, and snarky.

"Um..." My words got caught in my throat as my brain clouded with how to respond--any response. But how do I respond without him raising an eyebrow? With a deep breath, I attempted to respond again. "It's gonna sound stupid, so don't you f*beep*ing go around saying how stupid I sound since I already know, but...I was worried. You don't just stare off into space or at the ground the way you did unless there's something that was actually wrong. Same with the way you were pacing in your room this morning. I know, it's dumb, but...I just couldn't help but check up on you. I don't know why."

Silence. He didn't respond for a while, and I couldn't help but take a quick glance at him, worried I went too far or creeped him out or something. But he seemed lost in thought, or he was searching for a way to reply to my confession. Either way, his eyes stared straight forward while his walking pace slowed down a bit, which made me have to slow down my pace as well.

After a few more moments, a soft chuckle left his lips. "You're such a weird character, you know that? Honestly, you're right in one regard. It is dumb."

My heart skipped a beat and started twisting with anxiety. Great. It's not like I wasn't aware, but I should've assumed this would be his answer. Maybe I shouldn't have said anything. Why did I think expressing my emotions would be a good thing, when I knew Jax and I never got off on the right foot, and parts of me doubted we ever would. Why do I care in the first place, anyway? Am I finally losing it? What if--

"But it doesn't mean I don't appreciate your concern."

My eyes started blinking again, shock consumed my body as I heard his words, wondering if he was messing with me. "Wait, what?" My voice sounded weak and pathetic, making me internally cringe.

He chuckled softly, a sly grin was on his face. "What? You thought I would yell at you or diss you for being concerned for my well-being? How cute." The last part was underneath his breath, but I could hear it loud enough to understand that he fucking called me CUTE! I felt my cheeks heating up, possibly turning a bright pink as my eyes darted away from his glance.

"Excuse me?" My voice whispered.

"You heard nothing," He spoke with a grin, probably noticing the hint of fluster that was scattered on my cheeks. "Anyway, to answer your concern, nothing's wrong. But with the whole 'you made us behind out of concern' thing...I think this whole situation is your fault."

OH. So THAT'S where he's going with this. Yeah, scratch that. Now I regret being concerned for him. But could you blame me?? If anybody was zoning out that much or seemed bothered by something, I would go check up on them. It's just a nice thing to do. But now he's blaming me? Fucking original.

"My fault? Really?" I deadpanned, my eyes harshly glaring at the purple rabbit next to me while we were walking.

"Yep. All your fault. Don't try denying it, dollface. It won't work."

A barely noticeable growl emitted from my throat from how he turned the tables onto me from the fact I showed concern for him of all people. "Okay, sure. Then next time I won't show concern whenever you seem off. Fine by me."

~Jax's POV~

A smirk was spread on my face at how aggravated they were, though parts of me felt...what was the emotion? Guilt? Is that even something I'm able to feel? In all honesty, I just didn't want them to know or see any sort of vulnerability coming from me, especially with how much they seem to hate almost every snarky thing that leaves my mouth.

"Alright, dollface. Whatever you say," I responded with a grin, even though I was anything but smug. Nerves ate my insides, knowing exactly why I probably seemed so 'off' as they called it. My mind hasn't stopped spiraling lately, and I've been aware of that. But for the past few days, ever since Kaufmo's abstraction and seeing Y/N for the first time, it's been giving me a pit in my stomach, knowing that abstraction is all that will wait for us at the end of this digital tunnel.

I would NEVER admit this to them, but even if I try to deny it, throughout the past couple days, an epiphany dawned on me. I cared about them. Not just in a normal way, either. The very THOUGHT that they'd abstract makes me feel devastated. It came to the point that last night--though Caine claimed it was super rare and uncommon--I had a nightmare last night about Y/N abstracting.

The nightmare started out with me and Y/N talking and poking fun at one another, like we normally did. Then, suddenly, the atmosphere got darker and more dreary. Y/N looked almost spaced out, like their thoughts were running wild or something. I tried capturing their attention by waving my hand in front of their face and calling out their name, but there was no response.

Without warning, they started abstracting. In. Front. Of. Me. Obviously, I was mortified, since they seemed to be confused and shocked, yet also in pain while their body was distorting into a black mass of glitches and colorful eyes, just like Kaufmo. Fear pounded in my body as the glitched distortion that was once Y/N looked at me and started chasing after me, obviously having no control of its body anymore.

Before I was able to escape, the abstraction slammed me into the wall, beating me until my whole body was cut with glitches, and the pain was immeasurable. After being beaten by the abstraction, my vision slowly faded to black, which was when I woke up from the nightmare.

The nightmare felt so real that once I saw Y/N walk into my room, it was a huge breath of fresh air for me and it almost made me feel a strange source of peace. But I couldn't let them know that. It would be idiotic to suddenly express my feelings, when I'm afraid of letting somebody inside my walls, certainly somebody I ended up caring about so much. It will only leave me with pain, knowing that eternal abstraction was the only way out of this digital world. This digital hell.

"Jax? You're spacing out again," Y/N's voice cut through my thoughts, making me blink in surprise before glancing at them and their knowing glance. Dammit. I should really stop doing that if I don't want them to know my nightmare last night and the looming fears that I still have.

"No I wasn't," I lied. "I was just faking the whole 'spacing out thing' just to see how you would react." Okay, now I'm starting to think I was some impulsive liar when people get a little too close to comfort when it comes to my vulnerabilities. Since I didn't even think before spouting out some nonsense that was an obvious lie, I could tell Y/N didn't believe me one bit.

"Sure," They sighed. Their annoyed tone sent a stinging sensation piercing through my heart, but I kept my cocky smile as I glanced at them.

"What? You think I would lie about something like this?"

Their face deadpanned. "Yes. Yes, I do."

I tried my best to not laugh at their words, since of course they would think I'm lying. I was, after all. "Of course you do. You never believe me, dollface. Your words hurt. You wound me, Y/N." My voice was laced with as much dramatic energy as I could muster. Because of my tone, Y/N snickered, though a hint of a scowl laced their lips.

"Oh, boo-hoo. Cry about it," They snapped with a cocky grin. I don't know why, but I always loved talking to them, even when they're being snarky or kinda rude half of the time. Though, I was basically the same way towards them, so I couldn't judge.

"I will and it will be your fault. Just like how we're STILL walking on this dirt path to who-knows-where-with-no-exit."

Y/N looked ahead of us for the first time in a while (since they've been glancing at me most of the time), their eyes widened.

"F*beep*. We still have a long ways to go."

"Yep. So let's get to it, dollface." My eyes playfully narrowed at them. "Unless you want to be trapped here forever." Wow, way to go. Weren't they panicking about that 15 minutes ago? God, I'm so apathetic sometimes.

Their eyes widened for a moment. "Yep, okay, got it. Let's keep going."

~~~

Hey guys! Another chapter down, that was basically useless filler and talking to Jax. Don't worry, I plan on making chapter ten about catching up with the group or whatever is going on when it comes to this "nature walk." It was also my first time doing a full Jax POV. Did you like it? Hate it? Was it accurate or inaccurate? I would like to know thoughts and opinions so I can make future chapters better. I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter, and I also hope you'll have a lovely day!

-Sincerely, CB